Integrated system and method for mobile audio playback and dictation

ABSTRACT

A method and system provides for a single-pass review and feedback of a document. During audio playback of the document to be reviewed, voice-activated recording of feedback and submission of feedback relative to the location in the original document are accomplished. This provides for a fully integrated, single pass review and feedback of documentation to occur.

BACKGROUND

Dictation machines are used for a variety of purposes and are especiallyhelpful in situations in which the user must be able to record speech orcomments quickly and at any given time. For this reason, mobiledictation machines for use in the car, at home, etc. have become verypopular. In addition to the need to simply be able to voice record acomment, there is also the need to be able to review and comment upondocuments in mobile situations. The ability to use so-callednon-productive time, such as time spent commuting to and from work, toreview various documentation, user manuals, and various other documentsthat must be reviewed and commented upon is an unmet need.Unfortunately, the technology does not currently exist to support thisneed.

While a user may convert text to audio to listen to a document or mayrecord comments/feedback by use of a voice-enabled digital recorder,such technology has its limitations. If using separate devices toaccomplish both tasks, the user must stop one device to start the other,or stop one program and start another if both functions are provided bya single device. If voice recognition technology is used to transcriberecorded comments back to text, the user must manually insert theindividual comments in order to provide the feedback in context.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In accordance with embodiments consistent with the present invention, amethod and system for mobile audio playback and dictation. In responsein response to a user initiating a download of a source document from acomputer to a mobile device, a first conversion component of thecomputer converts the source document to a source audio file and thesource audio file is downloaded from the computer to a source audiostore of the mobile device. Upon a user initiating a playback mode onthe mobile device, an audio playback component of the mobile deviceenters a playback mode during which the source audio file is played anda voice detection component of the mobile device enters a listen modeduring which the voice detection component listens for voice. Upondetection of voice, indicative of a voice interrupt condition, duringthe playback mode, the voice detection component transmits a pausesignal to the playback component to pause the playback mode and theaudio playback component transmits a source data buffer index to thevoice detection component. After the voice interrupt, the voicedetection component records the voice as a comment, stores the commentas a recorded comment and the source data buffer index in a recordedcomment store of the mobile device, and transmits a resume signal to theaudio playback component to resume the playback mode of the audioplayback component. This occurs for each comment spoken by the userduring the playback mode.

In response to the user initiating an upload of the source audio filefrom the mobile device to the computer, the computer retrieves thesource audio file from the source audio store and one or more recordedcomments and corresponds one or more source data buffer indexesassociated with each voice interrupt condition from the recorded commentstore. Then, for each recorded comment of the one or more recordedcomments retrieved from the recorded comment store, a second conversioncomponent of the computer transcribes the source audio file back into asource document format in an updated source document until the sourcedata buffer index for the recorded comment is encountered. At thispoint, the second conversion component transcribes the recorded commentinto the source document format to generate a source document formatcomment that is written into the updated source document at the sourcedata buffer index. This occurs for each recorded comment. From a lastsource data buffer index of a last recorded comment to the end of theretrieved source audio file, the source audio file is transcribed intothe source document format in the updated source document.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth withparticularity in the appended claims. The invention itself however, bothas to organization and method of operation, together with objects andadvantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the followingdetailed description of the invention, which describes certain exemplaryembodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a system flow diagram, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart that illustrates an exemplary flow in accordancewith various embodiments disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with embodiments consistent with the present invention, amethod and system that provides for mobile audio playback and dictationis described herein that provides for a single-pass review and feedbackof a document. During audio playback of the document to be reviewed,voice-activated recording of feedback and submission of feedbackrelative to the location in the original document are accomplished Thisprovides for a fully integrated, single pass review of feedback ofdocumentation to occur.

Reference may be made to FIGS. 1 and 2, in conjunction with thefollowing description. Referring now to the system flow diagram of FIG.1, when a user wishes to download 300 a source document from his or hercomputer 200 to a mobile device or machine 100, such as a dictationmachine, a PDA, or any other mobile device having audio playbackcapability, a source document to audio conversion component 210 of thecomputer 200 converts the source document to a source audio file whichis then downloaded 310 to a source audio store 140 of the mobile device100. The audio file now resides on the mobile device and is availablefor audio playback to the user when the user so wishes. It is noted thatvarious formats may be used. In addition to traditional audio files,there is the ability to convert various document formats to audio.Examples of document formats include, but are not limited to, MicrosoftWord®, Acrobat PDF, PowerPoint®, plain text files, web pages, andemails. Examples of audio formats include MP3, Ogg, VMA® or Wave files.

In response to the user initiating a playback mode 320 on the mobiledevice 100, an audio playback component 110 of the mobile device entersthe playback mode and is in communication with source audio store 140 toget and return data buffer information 180, 190. The source audio fileis played and a voice detection component 120 of the mobile deviceenters a listen mode 125 during which the voice detection component 120listens for any voice from the user, indicative of an intent by the userto insert a verbal comment into the document at that point at whichspeak is detected. Processor 125 of voice detection component 120 allowsit to listen for voice interrupt while audio plays. Such a voiceinterrupt is referred to as a voice interrupt condition. Upon the voicedetection component detecting voice indicative of a voice interruptcondition during the playback mode, the voice detection component 120transmits a pause signal 130 to the playback component 110 to pause theplayback mode and the audio playback component transmits a source databuffer index 135 to the voice detection component 120.

Upon completion of the voice interrupt condition, the voice detectioncomponent records the voice as a comment 160. The comment is stored as arecorded comment and the source data buffer index is also stored 152,154 in a recorded comment store 150 of the mobile device. A resumesignal 170 is transmitted to the audio playback component 110 to resumethe playback mode of the audio playback component. This occurs for eachvoice interrupt condition detected during the playback mode, such thateach recorded comment initiated by a voice interrupt has a correspondingsource data buffer index associated with it. Upon completion of playingof the audio file, the audio playback component causing the voicedetection component to exit the listen mode.

Now the user has been able to insert at the correct points of an audiofile comments that may be uploaded at some future time from the mobiledevice to another device, such as the user's computer. Therefore, inresponse to the user initiating an upload 350 of the source audio filefrom the mobile device to the computer, the audio to document conversioncomponent 220 of computer 200 retrieves the source audio file from thesource audio store 330 and any recorded comments, together with theircorresponding source data buffer indexes associated with each voiceinterrupt condition, 340 from the recorded comment store. For eachrecorded comment retrieved from the recorded comment store 150, theaudio to document conversion component of the computer transcribes thesource audio file back into a source document format in an updatedsource document until a source data buffer index for a recorded commentis encountered. At that point, the audio to document conversioncomponent transcribes the recorded comment into the source documentformat to generate a source document format comment that is written intothe updated source document at the source data buffer index. If thesource document format has a comment capability, the audio to documentconversion component 220 may insert the comment using this commentfunction.

Transcription of the source audio file back into the updated sourcedocument then resumes until the next source data buffer index of thenext recorded comment is encountered, at which point, the audio todocument conversion component transcribes the next recorded comment intothe source document format to generate a next source document formatcomment that is written into the updated source document at the nextsource data buffer index. This transcription process continues until allrecorded comments have been transcribed into the updated sourcedocument. Finally, from a last source data buffer index of a lastrecorded comment to the end of the retrieved source audio file, theremainder of the source audio file is transcribed into the sourcedocument format in the updated source document.

Referring now to FIG. 2, flowchart 400 illustrates a method of mobileaudio playback and dictation and reinforces the information describedabove in connection with FIG. 1. At Block 410, a document to review isreceived. At Block 420, a user may initiate the download of a documentto a mobile device, which causes the document to be converted to audioat Block 430 and downloaded. At Block 440, the audio file thus createdis played on the mobile device; during playing of the audio file, themobile device listens for voice activation or voice interrupt at Block460. Upon voice interrupt occurring, as indicated at Block 470, theaudio playback is paused at Block 480 and the corresponding audio indexis saved at Block 490 and converted to a document index at Block 500.Also upon voice interrupt occurring, the voice is recorded at Block 510.When the voice segment is complete, Block 520, audio is resumed at Block530 and the flow playback of the audio file continues at Block 440;also, the voice is converted (transcribed) to text at Block 540 andcorrelated with the document index at Block 550. At Block 560,transcribed comments are inserted into an updated document, completingthe process at Block 570.

It can be understood that the various embodiments presented hereinprovide for hands-free recognition of vocal comments, thereby enable aperson on the go, such as in their car, plane, etc., to easily andreadily review and add comments to a document that has been converted toaudio format. Voice-activated recording of feedback (comments) occursautomatically in the playback mode with the start and end of a verbalcomment being recognized, enabling the process to switch from audioplayback to verbal comment and back again with minimal effort on thepart of the user; this provides for true hands-free operation, a featureof great value to a user occupied with other tasks, such as driving.Moreover, the updated source document generated upon initiating uploadof the source audio file and recorded comments to the computer is acomplete document with transcribed comments residing within it.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments of the presentinvention have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the artappreciates that various modifications and changes can be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention as set forth in theclaims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to beregarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and allsuch modifications are intended to be included within the scope ofpresent invention. The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, andany element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution tooccur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical,required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims.The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including anyamendments made during the pendency of this application and allequivalents of those claims as issued.

1. A method for mobile audio playback and dictation, comprising: inresponse to a user initiating a download of a source document from acomputer to a mobile device, a first conversion component of thecomputer converting the source document to a source audio file, whereinthe source document is not a text only document; downloading the sourceaudio file from the computer to a source audio store of the mobiledevice; in response to a user initiating a playback mode on the mobiledevice, an audio playback component of the mobile device entering aplayback mode during which the source audio file is played and a voicedetection component of the mobile device entering a listen mode duringwhich the voice detection component listens for voice; upon the voicedetection component detecting voice indicative of a voice interruptcondition or one or more voice interrupt conditions occurring during theplayback mode, for each voice interrupt condition detected furthercomprising: the voice detection component transmitting a pause signal tothe playback component to pause the playback mode and the audio playbackcomponent transmitting a source data buffer index to the voice detectioncomponent; upon completion of the voice interrupt condition, the voicedetection component recording the voice as a comment, storing thecomment as a recorded comment and the source data buffer index in arecorded comment store of the mobile device, and transmitting a resumesignal to the audio playback component to resume the playback mode ofthe audio playback component; upon completion of playing of the audiofile, the audio playback component causing the voice detection componentto exit the listen mode; and in response to the user initiating anupload of the source audio file from the mobile device to the computer,further comprising: the computer retrieving the source audio file fromthe source audio store and one or more recorded comments andcorresponding one or more source data buffer indexes associated witheach voice interrupt condition from the recorded comment store; for eachrecorded comment of the one or more recorded comments retrieved from therecorded comment store, further comprising: a second conversioncomponent of the computer transcribing the source audio file back into asource document format in an updated source document until the sourcedata buffer index for the recorded comment is encountered; and thesecond conversion component transcribing the recorded comment into thesource document format to generate a source document format comment thatis written into the updated source document at the source data bufferindex; and from a last source data buffer index of a last recordedcomment of the one or more recorded comments to the end of the retrievedsource audio file, transcribing the source audio file into the sourcedocument format in the updated source document.